RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present invention relates to "A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SCREENING AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS PRESENTED TO A SUBSCRIBER" Ser. No.: 08/568,166 filed Dec. 6, 1995 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, herein incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for collecting and recovering subscriber behavior from a plurality of home stations in a broadcast and/or interactive service distributing audio-visual materials. More particularly, it relates to a method and apparatus involving, a universal audio-visual identification code embedded in audio-visual materials, a software system residing in the home station to monitor and record the viewing of these audio-visual materials and returning the collected data to a behavior collection center for interpretation, accumulation and processing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Broadcast and/or Interactive television may be distributed over a variety of means, including but not limited to coaxial-analog or digital and fiber-coax cable systems, ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Loop), wireless and satellite distribution systems. In most cases, interactive television will co-exist with broadcast television in both its current analog form and, in the future, in its digital form.
Broadcast television is currently distributed over the air, satellite systems and over Community Access Television (CATV) systems. Most systems are designed for two-way transmission, only requiring the installation of upstream amplifiers and upstream transmitters in set-top terminals in the home to complete the two-way loop. Certain services such as impulse Pay-Per-View, where a subscriber may purchase a movie on impulse by simply ordering it through the set-top terminal, already make use of the upstream capabilities of a TV broadcast system. The upstream-channel is not unique to analog TV. Other digital broadcast systems such as an HDTV over digital cable transmission, ADSL and wireless will also have the capability to transmit data from the subscriber set-top terminal to a central control location.
Television marketing has not enjoyed the technological tools available to consumer goods marketers. Data supplied by rating agencies such as the Nielsen or Arbitron are limited to very small samples of the U.S. television viewing market. This is in part due to the difficulty of compiling data on every television viewer. Although surveys have been considered to be adequate as decision aids for show productions, they have not allowed for the customization of programming on a smaller sample, as in neighborhoods or on a per viewer basis.
Interactive television promises viewers the ability to view what they want, when they want. However, as any marketing person can profess, the consumer usually does not know what he or she wants until they are informed of their choices. Since there will be a plethora of choices offered by Interactive TV (ITV) viewers, accurate targeting of interactive television content is as valuable as in its parallel in the consumer goods market.
In addition to the marketing of interactive services, user viewing information is also useful for targeted advertising. Advertisements can be customized on a per area or even per viewer basis to increase their effectiveness. Without accurate targeting, a movie, game, advertisement, or in general, any interactive service, will be lost in the multitude of choices. In summary, proper targeting of interactive services and advertisements will become an essential part of marketing interactive services and making the most of the installed infrastructure.
Advertising rates for commercials for TV programs are determined by the expected size of the viewer audience for a predetermined number of television programs. These expectations are usually determined the estimated audience sizes of previously broadcast shows. For example, a weekly television series, the estimate of audience size for upcoming episodes is based on the estimated size of previously broadcast shows. In addition advertising rates may be adjusted based on an "after the fact" estimation of the market share for the televised program.
Present systems for estimating market share involve survey evidence such as the Nielsen ratings. Previous market data was taken by selecting households to record their viewing habits. For example, a selected household might record in a written journal or diary when the television is turned on and turned off, what channels are selected and the number of viewers in the room. This data may alternatively be collected by providing the user with an electronic device having a button that indicates turning on or off the television and the channel selected. Other systems are connected directly to the television that will monitor power on and off and the channel and time of the selected programs. The system is wired to a dedicated telephone line. When instructed, the electronics dump their memory over the phone line to a central computer for analysis. Each of these systems requires selecting individual households that represent an adequate sample of the general viewing audience and requires physically setting up the monitoring apparatus. These systems are inaccurate because the sample size is small, diary entries may be erroneous, or require viewer action.
Collecting subscriber behavior in a set-top can be provided by collecting user channel transitions. However, such statistics do not provide for the collection of any information about the viewed material itself. Since the viewed material may be received through a variety of channels controlled by more than one source (for example some signals may be generated by the cable-tv company while others may be produced by local stations), simply recording channel transitions and relaying them to a central processing point will not be sufficient to collect accurate viewing statistics.
Consequently, there remains a need for a method to universally identify audio-visual material broadcast through ITV (analog or digital) systems and to record these in an efficient manner to produce viewing statistics.